Justices Strike Down Animal Cruelty Censorship Law
(April 10, 2010) - In a rare display of near-unanimity, the Supreme Court struck down a federal law that attempted to create a broad new exception to the First Amendment for depictions of “animal cruelty.”

Sanitizing
Movies(April 19, 2005) - The "Family Movie Act"
(which was passed into law shortly after this testimony was given) singles
out filmmakers for lesser copyright protection in order to encourage the
movie-censoring industry.

Fact
Sheet on Media Violence(January 2004) - Answers frequently-asked questions about social science
research into the effects of media violence. The bottom line is that despite
the claims of some psychologists and politicians, the actual research
results have been weak and ambiguous.

Media
Literacy: An Alternative to Censorship
(2002; second edition, 2003) - FEPP's survey of media literacy education
and why it is preferable to TV ratings, Internet filters, "indecency"
laws, and other efforts to censor the ideas and information available
to the young.

Not
In Front of the Children: "Indecency," Censorship, and The Innocence
Of Youth(2001, 2nd edition 2007) - From Huckleberry Finn to Harry Potter, Internet
filters to the v-chip, censorship is often based on the assumption that
children and adolescents must be protected from "indecent" speech.
In Not In Front of the Children, FEPP Director Marjorie Heins explores
the history of indecency laws and other censorship aimed at youth. Not
in Front of the Children won the 2002 American Library Association's
Eli M. Oboler Award for the best published work in the area of intellectual
freedom.

For Materials on Violence in the Media in 2000-03, go to the Archives
Page.

image: war of our fathers by richard marin

The Free Expression Policy Project began in 2000 to provide empirical research and policy development on tough censorship issues and seek free speech-friendly solutions to the concerns that drive censorship campaigns. In 2004-2007, it was part of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. The FEPP website is now hosted by the National Coalition Against Censorship. Past funders have included the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Educational Foundation of America, the Open Society Institute, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

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